Zuckerberg hearing : Facebook CEO says firm is in 'arms race' with Russia and is working with Mueller election probe - as it happened
Data abuse scandal threatens to harm the social network forever
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Your support makes all the difference.Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced more than five hours of questions from the joint Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees over the privacy and the use of citizen's data..
The long-awaited showdown – one of the first times that Mr Zuckerberg has spoken publicly since a data scandal hit – saw nearly half the US Senate, 44 legislators, interrogate Mr about an issue that threatens to permanently damage the site he co-founded.
Mr Zuckerberg agreed to testify in Congress after revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was sold access to personal information from 87 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica denies any laws were broken
In his testimony, Mr Zuckerberg disclosed that his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working hard to change its own policies.
“We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," he said. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.”
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Mr Zuckerberg apologised for his company's errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging. However, as he answered questions, Facebook shares surged and closed up 4.5 per cent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.
Mr Zuckerberg said it had been “clearly a mistake” to believe the data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had deleted user data that it had - although Analytica said on Tuesday that it had deleted all the data. Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook had considered the data collection “a closed case” because it thought the information had been discarded and therefor that is why it did not inform users when it became aware of the data use in 2015.
The Facebook founder said the company is going through “a broader philosophical shift in how we approach our responsibility.” He said the company needs to take a “more proactive role” that includes ensuring the tools it creates are used in “good and healthy” ways.
He denied that Facebook, which has more than two billion monthly users across the world, was a monopoly. “It certainly doesn't feel that way to me,” Mr Zuckerberg said.
The billionaire appeared mostly comfortable with the questioning, with some senators struggling with some aspects of the technology. Although Mr Zuckerberg was at points to point out repeatedly that Facebook "does not sell" advertising and that users "have full control" over the data they provide.
Asked about the prospect of regulation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mr Zuckerberg said that his company would back "the right regulation".
Mr Graham asked whether the company "would work" with Congress to craft that regulation, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied: “Absolutely.”
Agencies contributed to this report
Senator Gary Peters asks a question about the use of audio to target consumers - Mr Zuckerberg says the company does not do that,
More on that:
Mr Peters: “I’ve heard constituents fear that Facebook is mining audio, which I think speaks to the lack of trust. Does Facebook use audio obtained from mobile devices? -
Mr Zuckerberg: "No".
As we are now in the middle of another break, he is an exchange I missed involving Senator Dean Heller.
Mr Heller: "Do you believe you’re more responsible with our data than the US government?"
Mr Zuckerberg: "Yes".
Mr Heller: "Do you think you’re a victim? Do you think you’re company is a victim".
Mr Zuckerberg: "No. We have a responsibility to protect anyone in our community".
The Facebook CEO went on to say that he saw the 87m affected by the data scandal as victims.
Also before the break, Mr Zuckerberg told Senator Tom Udall that Facebook is involved in an "ongoing arms race”.
“As long as there are people sitting in Russia who’s job it is is to try and interfere with elections around the world, this is going to be an ongoing conflict,” he said.
Democrat Senator Kamala Harris has listed all of the questions she believes Mr Zuckerberg has been less than forthcoming so far.
Her big question relates to the issue of Facebook not notifying users about what happened to their data back in 2015.
“So my question is, did anyone at Facebook have a conversation at the time that you became aware of this breach wherein the decision was made not to contact the users?”
Mr Zuckerberg replies: "I don’t know if there were any conversations at all at Facebook... I don’t know what other people discussed."
He adds that he does not remember having a conversation where Facebook decided not to inform the users. He says that in retrospect it was a mistake.
Senator Tammy Baldwin asks whether Facebook data gathered by the personality app was sold to anyone besides Cambridge Analytica?
Mr Zuckerberg: "Yes"
Mr Zuckerberg mentions Eunoia as one of the companies, but claims there may be others.
Senator Ron Johnson asks whether Mr Zuckerberg knows how many users actually read Facebook's terms of service.
Mr Zuckerberg says he does not know and Mr Johnson suggests it may not be a lot. The Facebook SEO that everyone has the “opportunity” to read them, and that it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve consented to it.
Mr Zuckerberg says that Facebook has not seen a large drop-off of users in the wake of the recent data scandal
Senator Maggie Hassan says that she believes that Mr Zuckerberg believes he will always prioritise users.
However, she says: “There’s clearly tension between your bottom line and what’s good for your users.”
We are now discussing the difference between a Facebook user deleting their account, and "deactivating it" where it can be activated again at a later date.
The main point the senators want clarity on is that once a user deletes an account, it is deleted from Facebook's servers. Mr Zuckerberg said that it is.
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